Universal May Go on a ‘Maximum Ride’

After a year of development, Columbia put the James Patterson adaptation Maximum Ride in turnaround and Universal may be looking to snatch up the rights.

The six young-adult fantasy novels center on a group of human-avian hybrids called The Flock.  Genetic experimentation has left them 98% human and 2% bird giving them the power of flight and a conspicuous set of wings.  In the first book they’re pursued by a pack of part human-part wolf laboratory creatures called Erasers and the rest of the series is about The Flock protecting the world from threats like robots, global warming, and pollution.  So they’re basically like the Planeteers with wings?

Screenwriters Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (Iron Man, Cowboys and Aliens) will write a new take, reports THR.

Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke became attached to the story around March 2009, which makes sense because producers are looking for the next big teen franchise and she helped launched one of the biggest in town.  She’s still tentatively involved, though she’s preparing to shoot The Girl with the Red Riding Hood in Vancouver.

Studios are desperately trying to recapture lightning in a bottle discover the next big trend after vampires.  DreamWorks thinks it has it with teen aliens.  Warner Bros is developing a teen romance involving supernatural curses.  Columbia/Sony is angling for a youthful Spider-Man with their reboot and the next generation of Ghostbusters.  Even Summit is working on a few younger-skewing stories as their money-making saga winds down.  So naturally, I have to ask, are flying bird people the next Twilight?

It certainly fits closely with The Guardian‘s assessment of the next big young-adult fad: angels.  Their article examines a rush of bestsellers focused on the heavenly, winged beings, drawing from theological lore rather than the mythology of blood-suckers dating back to Dracula.  Most of the books involve fallen angels battling for control of Earth, but there’s plenty of thematic material to mine there involving further forbidden romance and the luring beauty of literally someone sent from heaven.